Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Odyssey of the Celestial Ark
December 6, 2014 | runtime = 111 minutes | country = Japan | language = Japanese | budget = | gross = | preceded by = (Chronological) "The Faraway Promised Land" (Production) Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Voyage of Remembrance | followed by = (Chronological) "The Forever War" (Production) TBA }} Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Odyssey of the Celestial Ark (宇宙戦艦ヤマト2199 星巡る方舟 Uchū Senkan Yamato 2199: Hoshi-Meguru Hakobune) is an original movie spin-off of Space Battleship Yamato 2199. Summary Prologue A small group of surviving United Nations Cosmo Marines wearing armored spacesuits attempt to radio for help from the shelter of their demolished outpost on the Moon, with no success. The bodies of their fallen comrades lie nearby, and Sergeant Hajime Saito keeps vigil as their commanding officer dies from his injuries. Outside, an unfamiliar vessel is spotted passing overhead, and then their rescue ship is seen approaching from the direction of Earth--the battleship Kirishima. After boarding, Saito furiously pushes his way onto the bridge to confront the senior officer, demanding to know how the slaughter of his fellow troops could have happened. Without turning to face him, Admiral Ryu Hijikata explains that they were providing escort to the unfamiliar ship, and that the UNCM base was a secondary priority. He goes on to to identify the vessel as the space battleship Yamato. Act I Seven months later, the super dreadnought Sehrgut II under the command of Basiv Vandevel leads a small fleet of Garmillas ships, survivors of the Raid on Balun, across intergalactic space toward the Large Magellanic Cloud and home. A massive flame-like energy beam suddenly appears directly ahead of them and vaporizes several ships at once. The fleet opens fire on an enemy that is far out of range of their own weapons, but the beam appears again and again, eliminating even the few who manage to escape the destruction of Sehrgut II and attempt to flee. Aboard his flagship, the Megaluda, Gatlantis Governor-General Goran Dagam savors his victory and orders his forces forward. In another part of deep space, the Garmillas carrier Lanbea limps along, barely operating. The ship's acting commanding officer, Major Fommt Berger, is in his quarters watching an old hologram of a young woman named Melia. Berger receives word that they have been ordered to rendezvous with a task force led by another carrier, Mirangal. The task force arrives and commences repairs to Lanbea. Mirangal's commander and a friend of Berger's, Colonel Neredia Rikke, comes aboard Lanbea to inform Berger of the new détente between Yamato and the Great Garmillas Empire. Berger angrily rejects it, desperate to take revenge for the deaths of General Erich Domel and his fellow officers at the Battle of the Rainbow Star Cluster. Rikke changes the subject and advises him that they should leave quickly, due to rumors of a "witch" and vessels going missing in the sector. Berger mocks her superstitious concern until he begins to notice singing. Neither the colonel nor the bridge crew can hear it. Berger suddenly becomes lost in the music. Meanwhile, as the Yamato prepares to leave the Large Magellanic Cloud, a calm has fallen over the crew with the new peace agreement. Warrant Officer Mikage Kiryu mulls over her experiences since leaving Iscandar, but a call reminds her that she is late for her shift. As she makes a mad dash to her station, she collides with Ensign Sho Sawamura and runs off, leaving an angered Sawamura to vent to his fellow fighter pilots. Kiryu works during her shift to develop translation programs for the Jirel and Gatlantean languages from a Garmillas language database. Lieutenant Susumu Kodai pays a visit to Admiral Juzo Okita's quarters to share tea. He notes the admiral's choice in music, a German folk song about parting and reunions, which brings the conversation to the lieutenant's deceased elder brother. After taking his leave, Kodai runs into Akira Yamamoto, who is briefly reminded of her own lost brother. The two stop to chat about their siblings. Daisuke Shima encounters them, and the three eventually join Yuki Mori on one of the observation decks and take pictures together--until the vessel is shaken by a surprise attack from a wing of Gatlantis fighters. Kodai and the other bridge officers rush to their stations, and in the absence of more senior officers, Kodai assumes command. Yamato is approached from behind by Dagam's fleet, the Gutaba Expedition Group. Dagam orders them to surrender, intent on seizing Yamato's wave motion gun for the Gatlantis Empire, but Kodai flatly refuses. He orders Yamato to make a run for a nearby free floating planet, but is pursued by Dagam's forces. As the fight continues, executive officer Shiro Sanada arrives on the bridge, and watches Kodai's leadership with a growing sense of satisfaction. Before Yamato can reach the planet, Dagam opens fire with his warship's Flame Strike Gun, teleporting the beam toward its target. The blast consumes a Gatlantean assault cruiser and strikes Yamato's wave motion shield. Knowing that another blast will overwhelm the shields, the Earth battleship dives into the pitted structure of the planet for cover. Dagam's vanguard follows them in. Drawn by the weapons fire, jellyfish-like organisms emerge from resting places inside the rocks, latch onto the ships, and begin draining them of energy. One by one, the surviving Gatlanteans lose power and crash. In a desperate effort to avoid the same fate, Kodai orders Shima to go to warp. The creatures are blasted off the hull and Yamato escapes. Act II After being knocked out from the forced warp, the crew wake up to notice that the Yamato is operating on it's own, despite their attempts to reclaim control of it. Kodai is immediately reminded of the [[The Whisper of the Witch | Jirel attack on the Yamato]]. The Yamato enters a nearby planets airspace to find massive alien ruins within, where it sets anchor. Kodai, Niimi, Kiryu, Sho Sawamura, and Yoshikazu Aihara board the Ki-8 "Stork", a defunct piece of equipment from the Izumo Plan, to explore the ocean below. As the Stork dives, Kiryu begins to hear strange singing and the Yamato loses radio contact. The Stork bursts out of the occean into a tropical landscape with a massive treelike structure when they suddenly intercept a Garmillas SOS signal. The Stork's all terrain mode gets stuck, forcing the crew to dismount and search on foot. Kiryu mentions how she traversed this jungle in her childhood, reminding Kodai again of his own hallucinations during the first Jirel attack, when Aihara calls them over to show the source: The IJN Yamato! In the middle of the jungle lies the Imperial Japanese battleship, to the disbelief of the whole team. Finding an unlocked door, they make their way in to find a hotel reception room. Kiryu recognizes it as the entry to a Yamato Hotel back on Earth, also a memory of her childhood. Just when things couldn’t get any stranger, Sawamura notices the door has disappeared and Aihara loses contact with Analyzer in the Stork. Tensions begin to flare up when the sound of a piano playing draws them deeper into the hotel. They look down to see Neredia playing the piano in the company of Fommt, Vance, and the pilot Klim Melhe. Percieving them as Zaltzian soldiers, Fommt invites them down though Klim is noticeably irritated by their presence. Neredia asks them what unit they’re from, but the conversation is interrupted by the disappearance of the Yamato crew’s weapons replacement of standard uniforms with civilian attire. In the moment, Berger gets a straight on look at Kiryu and is instantly reminded of her similarity to Melia. Berger declares it’s fine that Kodai’s crewmembers can’t identify their unit, believing they’re operating on a top secret mission, which Kodai rolls with to ensure his crewmen’s safety. Realizing they’re now both trapped, Kodai’s crew get set in some of the hotel rooms. Neredia shows Mikage to hers, but notices a book left out on a table. Neredia recounts it as a story from her childhood, which confuses Kiryu who perceives it as a book about Helen Keller. Neredia continues her story about a young witch who traveled to the west find friends. She is repeatedly shunned by the locals for her power however, which brings the girl to mourn her solitude. Kiryu inquires about the witches power, which was telepathy. Combined with her own naive perception of people, she brought the truth to light before others which led them to become suspicious and hate each other. Eventually, the hatred reaches a point where the people try to kill her, forcing her to take a ship “that God left for her out of pity” to find a new land to live in. Leaving Kiryu, Neredia speaks with Fommt. He muses about the similarity, implying Kiryu’s appearance compared to Melia, but Neredia seems to miss the reference. Suddenly everyone catches notice to Sawamura crying out as the floor collapses under him. Back on the Yamato, Sanada inquires about the repairs, which have been underway since the Stork left 5 hours prior. The next morning, Mikage records in her personal log about the efforts being made by both crews to find a way out, but only digging through Sawamura’s hole shows any promise. Little progress is being made despite the dirt the crew pulls out, and rations are starting to run low. She wonders how long this tentative peace will last, but is interrupted by a Jirel voice saying “Hunger awakens conflict.” While Kiryu and Sawamura discuss the voice, Kodai and Niimi speak on the inevitable revelation that they are part of the Yamato’s crew. Kodai remains faithful to his brother’s philosophy however, believing there’s a way to cooperate with the Garmillas. As Kiryu notes it’s Day 6 in the hotel, she hears Berger having a nightmare. In his memory made nightmare, Berger is running through the halls of a Garmillas ship under fire searching for Melia. He catches sight of her unconscious in a hallway but is blocked off by a jammed airlock. Melia looks up just in time to be consumed by an oncoming fireball which blasts Berger away and cuts his cheek. He wakens up as Kiryu comes to investigate, but Berger shrugs off her concern. The next day, Melhe complains about the futility in digging Sawamura’s hole any more. Berger counters that the Garmillas philosophy is to have faith in the possibility, so they will refuse to give up. Melhe storms off, unable to take being the presence of Kodai’s crew any longer. Kodai tries chatting with Berger about the optimistic philosophy, bearing similarity with Captain Okita’s leadership, but unknowingly draws the conversation to Domel which sours the moment quickly. Up on the fourth floor, Melhe is raging at the situation but is held back by his own hunger. He turns to see a new doorway, where Neredia asks if he’s hungry and the two disappear. Baren recalls Berger’s past for Kodai’s team. Drumming up the memory of an upstanding officer of Garmillas who grew embittered after Melia’s death, now driven by revenge against the Yamato for the deaths of his fellow officers at the Battle of the Rainbow Star Cluster. Meanwhile, Kiryu asks Berger about Melia, but he switches the conversation before she gets too deep about Berger’s past. Kiryu then tries asking about the Jirel from her conversation with Neredia. Berger explains that they’re like witches from old stories, which reminds Kiryu of Neredia’s tale, but notes against Neredia’s conversation that there were some surviving Jirel on Garmillas. Back on the Megaruda, Prime Minister Sabera demands a report on Dagam’s progress. He has few leads, but tries to offer something else(the Yamato). Sabera berates him, demanding “The World of Tranquility” and its cloaking technology, or his death in compensation. Immediately after, Dagam gets a lock on Yamato’s warp and orders a pursuit against Sabera’s demands. On the hotel, Kiryu is cleaning up a spilled bucket of water and hearkens back to the story of Helen Keller, who learned to see through touch. The young warrant officer realizes there’s Jirel writing on the floor, and deciphers a message about perceiving the world around them. Noticing the mentions to the “11th level” to see the world as it really is, Kiryu takes the suddenly unlocked elevator to the top floor. At the top floor, she finds a ladder to get up into the bridge of the rusting battleship, only to hear laughter from above. Overlooking the ship she finds Melhe coveting an apparent bag of food, who levels a gun at her threateningly. Meanwhile, the Gatlantis forces have reached the mysterious planet’s space and prepare to attack. Aboard the Lanbea, Neredia curses their luck. In the hotel, the crews give chase after Kiryu, finding the mysterious new stairway on the fourth floor. The sound of gunshots drives them further as Melhe grazes Kiryu on the arm. Kodai and Berger reach the top of the ship to find Kiryu held against Melhe at gunpoint, the crazed pilot declaring that the food is his and no others, despite Kiryu’s protest that is isn’t food. Kodai asks how he got a gun, which “Neredia” suddenly appears and offers Kodai and Berger their own pistols holstered back on their belts. Sawamura tackles Melhe from the top of the radar array and disarms him, knocking over the paper bag and revealing it’s full of skulls. “Neredia” declares Garmillas cannot coexist with Terrons, revealing Kodai as a Yamato crewmember. The two get into a standoff, but Kodai offers they can see eye to eye as soldiers and officers. “Neredia” shouts that Kodai has admitted to killing Domel and he should be shot, but Berger sees through the charade and points his pistol at her instead. It’s revealed that Neredia never left the Garmillas fleet, and that the one the crew had been living with in the hotel was a Jirel named Loerelai Loer seeking to play the two crews against each other like so many before. The planet, Shambleau of Aquarius, is sacred ground to the Jirel people and served as a refuge when their homeworld fell. Kiryu begins to decipher the ancient mechanisms, and falls into a trance while reciting the instructions left behind. To unlock the planet, the descendants of Aquarius must join hands as brothers once more. Kodai offers Loerelai join with him and Berger to open the seal, that the promise of a better tomorrow is a greater existence more than awaiting extinction. Act III The crew escapes to outside the battleship where the landscape is breaking apart both from below by the shifting planet and above by the Flame Strike Gun. Analyzer arrives just in time with the Stork though, allowing them to escape the destruction. Sanada receives word of the completed repairs to the Yamato just as they regain radio contact with the Stork. Upon returning, Kodai requests Sanada for command of the battle against Gatlantis, believing they have a chance. Sanada grants him his trust while he develops a means of countering the Flame Strike Gun. Back on the Lanbea, Baren returns to report to Neredia while Berger and Melhe board the Mirangal. Berger assumes command of the fleet in order to make sure the conscripts aboard the Lanbea can get home safely, and the crew grants him their allegiance. Both the Garmillas Fleet and the Yamato break out of the planet’s atmosphere, where Kodai declares a joint operation with their former enemies against Gatlantis. The fighter wings prepare to engage the carrier battlegroup on the flank while the primary fleet battles against the Megaruda’s battlegroup. An opening volley from the Flame Strike Gun however vaporizes several Garmillas ships including the Gelvades-Class ''Nirvales''.'' Sanada identifies the warp signature’s similarity to the system Domel used at the Battle of the Rainbow Star Cluster, which Kodai relays to Berger to help dodge the blasts. In the meantime, Shambleau begins shedding it’s illusory form to reveal a cagelike structure beneath. However in the process the ''Lanbea is moored by the outer structure. Sabera contacts Dagam again and berates him for attacking the planet she intended to present to “His Majesty.” She goes further to belittle him for his low life past and being unable to properly wield the Flame Strike Gun, which causes Dagam to drive his sword through the holo projector and then through his first officer who went behind his back. Both battlegroups begin exchanging fire, but the Megaruda’s warp targeting system is damaged, making them unable to use the Flame Strike Gun. On the far end of the battlespace, the joint fighter wings strike at the carrier group before it can launch many of its fighters. In his frustration, Dagam declares they seize the planet on their own, leaving the initial battle. Berger realizes their vector is directly in line with the Lanbea and requests Kodai to save them. Neredia tells Berger to ignore them and keep up the battle, but to no avail. Berger leads the fight against Gatlantis, but the knife fight between both fleets leads to heavy losses. The fighter wing takes its own losses, including Melhe, and the Yamato is still racing to catch up with the Megaruda. Dagam declares his battleship has a blind spots and releases the Flame Strike Gun mechanism, using it as a massive bomb. Shima barely manages to dodge the blast, though it grazes one of the observation decks. Kodai uses one of the Yamato’s rocket anchors to grab hold of the Gatlantis battleship and swing around to defend the Lanbea. The Yamato peppers the enemy battleship with its anti-aircraft lasers and tears it apart with volleys of Type 3 ammunition. The Megaruda explodes in a massive fireball which frees the Lanbea with its shockwave. The Yamato escapes the blast relatively unscathed, and the Mirangal claimed victory at the cost of the fleet. Aboard the bridge, Berger mutters to Melia’s memory that he couldn’t join her this time. The last of the illusion is finally lifted, revealing a massive structure that out scales even the planet. As the Yamato and the Lanbea observe outside of Shambleau’s structure, Kiryu muses about the intentions of Aquarius when they created the many descendant species. Suddenly, Shambleau begins fading into the darkness of space. Sanada muses that the technology to achieve such a feat is well beyond human technology. The two ships exchange a salute while Captain Okita has Yuria Misaki broadcast Muss I Denn to the Lanbea as a parting message before the two ships return to their homes. Epilogue Back on Earth, society is beginning to break down as shortages, riots, and contaminated regions become more and more frequent. At UNCF Far East HQ, Admiral Hijikata and Heikuro Todo discuss the Yamato’''s mission time and wonder if it will return. Hajime Saito breaks through UNCF security and demands a word with Hijikata, complaining about having to use Cosmo Marine equipment against human targets. Hijikata responds that Okita gave him a promise to return, and so he shall. Immediately after making that declaration, UNCF HQ makes contact with the ''Yamato("Memories of the Blue Planet") Analysis *The movie occurs between the events of "The Faraway Promised Land" and "The Forever War." An official summaryOfficial Yamato 2199 website story summary http://yamato2199.net/about/story_a.html describes the story as taking place after Yamato leaves the Large Magellanic Cloud. The two-month gap between these episodes provides much more time for additional incidents and encounters, whereas "Memories of the Blue Planet" starts in the immediate wake of the [[Battle of the Galactic Theater Gate|fight between Yamato and Dessler's forces]] in "The Forever War" and during the final leg of the journey home. *The film's prologue takes place immediately after Yamato breaks from Earth orbit in "Escape the Jupiter Zone." The apparent timing of the attack on the lunar base and the marines' radio report of "carrier-based fighters" strongly suggest the attack came from the same Garmillas carrier that investigated the hidden Yamato launch site in "We're Off Into the Sea of Stars." *The epilogue is set during the events of "Memories of the Blue Planet," just before Yamato reestablishes contact with Earth. *Although Gatlantean ships and people appear occasionally throughout the first Space Battleship Yamato 2199 series, the movie introduces Gatlantis as an adversary of Yamato. This contrasts with their role as nominal allies of Yamato against a mutual enemy, the Great Garmillas Empire, during the Riot on Prison Planet 17. *The smaller ships accompanying Sehrgut II are painted in the striped pattern of Gremdt Goer's personal flagship, marking them as assigned to Goer's command prior to the destruction of the Balun base. *The main bridge viewscreen of Sehrgut II, shot and disabled in a fit of panic by Herm Zoellik ("Over the Black Light"), was removed and not replaced. *The opening quote("By the wall, I will say a word to you. Take my word. Give ear to my instructions.") is taken from a partially recovered Sumerian poem telling the Sumerian creation and flood myths. In it, Enki warns King Ziusudra that the gods will bring a great flood and to survive the catastrophe he must create a massive ship to carry the life of the Earth. This forms more connections to Aquarius both from Final Yamato and carrying potential implications for future 2199 publications. Questions *Why was Sehrgut II--under the command of Vandevel and not his superior, Goer--leading a few dozen ships instead of the three thousand that had survived the Raid on Balun? **It is possible the fleet broke up into separate formations with different destinations across the Empire, since the massive gathering of ships at Balun was comprised of multiple fleets from across Garmillas territory. **Possible conflict between officers and soldiers who followed the traitor Zoellik and those who remained loyal to Dessler may have played a part in keeping these ships apart from others. It may have also influenced Goer's absence from the flagship of the traitor that he personally executed. *How can Mikage Kiryu and the late Melia Rikke resemble each other so closely, and is it related to the reason that Yuki Mori and Yurisha Iscandar are so similar ("Out of the Forest of Memory")? Noteworthy Dialogue Behind the Scenes *Until April 2015, fans had used at least two English translations of the movie title, Star-Voyaging Ark and Ark of the Stars. The production studio, Xebec, ultimately chose the title Odyssey of the Celestial Ark.Official movie site product page (scroll down for home video package image) *Production error: Before and during Dagam's sneak attack on Sehrgut II and its fleet, the Large Magellanic Cloud repeatedly appears and disappears directly ahead of the Garmillas ships and directly behind the Gatlantis ships in the original theatrical release of the film[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw1C2cmNzBY Preview of the first minutes of Odyssey of the Celestial Ark, posted by Shochiku on December 3, 2014]. This mistake is fixed in the home video release. Awards and Honors *2015 Seiun Award for Best Dramatic Presentation"Yamato 2199, Moyashimon, Aoi Honō Win Seiun Awards," Anime News Network, August 29, 2015"2015 List of Seiun Award Winners," Federation of the Science Fiction Fan Groups of Japan Cast (Alphabetized by family name)[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=16186 Anime News Network data on Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Star-Voyaging Ark ] *Kenji Akabane as Yasuo Nanbu *Kazusa Amagai as Shiori Nagakura *Shigeru Chiba as Sakezo Sado *Yuuki Chiba as Kenjiro Ota *Minori Chihara as Miezela Celestella (flashback only) *Yuya Chikaki as Sho Sawamura *Cho as Analyzer *Masashi Ebara as Osamu Yamanami *Saki Fujita as Jun Ichikawa *Keiji Fujiwara as Isami Enomoto *Shinya Fukumatsu as Vance Baren *Kenji Hamada as Quiche Tolgien *Kouki Harasawa as Shinpei Iwata *Daisuke Hirakawa as Hiroki Shinohara *Ryou Hirohashi as Milt Evans *Aya Hisakawa as Kaoru Niimi *Yoshimasa Hosoya as Saburo Kato *Kikuko Inoue as Starsha Iscandar (flashback only) *Fumihide Ise as Gatlantean soldier *Kouji Ishii as Bodom Mace *Unshou Ishizuka as Ryu Hijikata *Shizuka Itou as Melda Dietz (flashback only) *Junko Iwao as Loerelei Loer *Yuko Kaida as Shifual Sabera *Ryūichi Kijima as Tetsuya Kitano *Taira Kikumoto as Gatlantean soldier *Masato Kokubun as Yoshikazu Aihara *Keisuke Koumoto as Kirishima navigator *Houko Kuwashima as Yuki Mori *Takamasa Mogi as Garmillas soldier *Shinobu Matsumoto as Shigeru Hayashi *Katsuji Mori as Goro Kiryu *Satomi Moriya as Miki Saijo *Mugihito as Hikozaemon Tokugawa *Eriko Nakamura as Mikage Kiryu and Melia Rikke *Joji Nakata as Wolf Fleurken (flashback only) *Shinji Ogawa as Heikuro Todo *Akio Ohtsuka as Erich Domel (flashback only) *Houchu Ohtsuka as Shiro Sanada *Daisuke Ono as Susumu Kodai *Ryuzaburo Otomo as Goran Dagam *Jiro Saito as Toshiro Amagi *Manabu Sakamaki as Gatlantean solider *Rina Satou as Makoto Harada *Mie Sonozaki as Neredia Rikke *Takayuki Sugo as Juzo Okita *Kazuhiro Sunseki as Mikio Nemoto *Junichi Suwabe as Fommt Berger *Kenichi Suzumura as Daisuke Shima *Shinnosuke Tachibana as Klim Melhe *Toshitsugu Takashina as Gen Furuhashi *Masahiko Tanaka as Isla Paracas *Rie Tanaka as Akira Yamamoto *Hiroki Tasaka as Basiv Vandevel *Hiroki Touchi as Hajime Saito *Koji Yusa as Kiyoshi Toyama *Hiroshi Tsuchida as Susumu Yamazaki *Shinpachi Tsuji as Wemm Heidern (flashback only) *Aya Uchida as Yuria Misaki *Hidenari Ugaki as Meiser Drum *Kiyohito Yoshikai as Masaru Kurata References Gallery Image:StarVoyagingArkTeaser.png|Teaser movie poster Image:NerediaRikke.png|Captain Neredia Rikke commands the Garmillas carrier Mirangal. Image:StarVoyagingArkYamatoGelvadesFighters.png|''Yamato'' is escorted by its fighters and the Gevaldes class ship Mirangal above a mysterious planet. Category:Films